SecondLife
by BadFiction
Summary: Temari wanted to slap, shake, and scream at the girl in front of her. Lies; nothing but lies. Gaara couldn't have... Yet, how could Temari deny the girl's claim when the proof was staring her in the face with familiar sea foam eyes. Post Manga. Gaa/Oc
1. Chapter 1: Naruto

**Title:_ SecondLife_**

**Disclaimer: **_**Do not own Naruto. Applies for all chapters.**_

**Summary: **_**Temari wanted to slap, shake, and scream at the girl in front of her. Lies; nothing but lies. Gaara couldn't have... Yet, how could Temari deny the girl's claim when the proof was staring her in the face with familiar sea foam eyes. Post Manga. Gaa/Oc**_

**Chapter: **_**Naruto**_

Ten years to the day; the day that Gaara had died protecting Suna. Seven since the council forced Gaara to seal the Shukaku demon back inside his body.

That had been a mistake.

Temari remembered with heartache the panicked look on her brother's face as he confessed that he couldn't control the beast anymore. Gaara feared that the absence from his body had made the sand spirit stronger. He was constantly struggling internally with Shukaku for possession of his mind, and after a year his efforts were proving to be a losing battle. For the first time in his life Gaara told her and Kankuro that he loved them; only to disappear from Suna the next day.

The council formed a search team made of elite ANBU members to find him, but days turned to weeks; weeks into months. After a year Suna could no longer afford to continue without a Kage and declared the young red headed leader to be dead. They mourned the loss with a traditional memorial service and began the process of inaugurating a new Kazekage to replace Gaara once and for all. With a new leader in place, Suna moved on leaving Gaara and his mysterious disappearance forgotten in the past.

Temari alone refused to give up hope. Even with the sand village's council members telling her to give up searching she held onto the hope that he was still out there waiting for her to find him.

Five more years past. Five years was a long time to keep retracing the same dead ends over and over again; even for someone as stubborn as Temari. With no new leads she felt Gaara slipping further and further away from her grasp. Fear crept into her thoughts that with the next sunset he might be gone forever.

Seven years to the day Temari sat overlooking the sand city from the Kazekage tower as she had seen Gaara do so many times before. So many times she had come to this spot hoping to find some kind of insight or peace of mind that would lead her to her brother, yet nothing had produced results. Seven years was a long time to search for someone that didn't want to be found.

She shielded her eyes with her arm as the blinding rays of sun climbed over the tall outer wall and shed light over the golden buildings below. It marked a new day; another year without finding Gaara. She didn't want to admit it, but she was starting to believe the Council might be right. Gaara was gone; she had to let him go.

Ten years to the day, Temari acknowledged for the second time in her life that her brother had died.

**OooOooO**

"Excuse me, but I was told to file a report with a Sabaku no Temari?"

Temari stopped flipping through the large pile of papers on her desk at the sound of her name. Glancing up toward her office doorway she saw a young amber haired girl with light green eyes waiting for a response. The blond woman smiled warmly and gestured at the chairs between them. "I'm Temari, please take a seat."

Temari watched closely as the girl moved with ballerina like grace to one of the open seats. She noted that the girl's attire—while still fitting for desert living—was foreign to Suna. The girl's slight accent also gave that fact away.

The Kunoichi folded her hands in her lap as she relaxed in her chair studying the stranger in front of her. "Baki sends new Shinobi students in my direction; You're a little old to be applying for the academy so I'm assuming you have a young child?"

The girl didn't hesitate before answering, "My son. He'll be five next month. "

Temari nodded in confirmation while taking out a registration form and asking a few basic questions. "Name?"

"Mine or my son's?"

Temari tapped her pen on the desk. "Let's start with you."

"Oshiro Kiyoko."

"Oshiro Kiyoko." repeated the wind user. "Are you or any direct family members a resident of Suna?"

"No."

The blond noted that on the form before asking a follow up question. "Okay, are you from a neighboring Shinobi village?"

"No. I come from a small tribe residing on the western coast of the Land of Wind where Shinobi do not exist."

Temari looked up from her pen and paper confused. "I'm sorry, but if Shinobi don't exist in your tribe then why would you think your son would be accepted into our academy?"

The girl, Kiyoko, blushed and turned her gaze towards a window next to Temari's desk. "I believe his father was a Suna Shinobi."

"Believe?" Temari clarified.

The foreign girl nodded while her cheeks turned a darker shade of red. "I don't know for sure . . . He just showed up one day and didn't want to talk much about his past. He left just as suddenly."

Temari put down her pen and leaned across the desk to place a hand on Kiyoko's shoulder. "I'm sorry. Men can be so fickle sometimes. If you tell me his name I can look him up and punish him for you."

Kiyoko shook her head her native accent thick as she rushed her words. "You misunderstand. He didn't leave me because he wanted to he..." the girl paused momentarily to wipe away a stray tear in the corner of her eye. "He died before I gave birth."

Temari felt a pull at one of her heartstrings. She knew all to well how life could be so unfair sometimes. She tried hard not to picture a certain face as she listened to the girl continue. "I've learned to manage, though. Even if I wanted to be sad I couldn't. My son-he is such a handful. Always managing to get involved in the most unusual things." The girl shook her head and smiled as she recalled a memory. "Just last week, as we were traveling, he had a group of Konoha Shinobi in a fit because they thought he was a missing nin. They finally let us be after I talked to their leader for a bit. He was very nice to me, even made sure my son and I made it here safe. Makes me wonder what his father had been like as a child...if he was just as troublesome..." The girl trailed off still smiling and staring out the window deep in thought.

Temari couldn't help but smile a bit too as realization hit her. Naruto—she knew it had to be him since he had shown up unannounced not too long ago—had gone out of his way to make sure this girl and her son made it safely to Suna. Gaara had always told her that Naruto was a hopeless romantic at heart and the girl sitting at her desk _was_ quite pretty. Naruto was a busy man now-a-days, with a village to run and all; but even so something about this girl had him drop everything that he had been doing.

Love at first sight, Gaara would have called it.

Temari knew her grin had changed to a sad smile; Gaara would have liked her. The green eyed girl was sweet, pretty, polite, and somehow she just knew that Gaara would have been head over heals. Her brother would never had admitted it but he was a hopeless romantic at heart as well. Temari wondered what the girl would have thought of her brother. Would she have given him a chance despite his past? Would she be like all the others who only saw him for his title?

Would she have loved Gaara back?

No, Temari thought. Gaara wouldn't have had a chance against Naruto, given what he used to be.

He would have been happy for the two, though. Even if it hurt him.

"I'm so sorry!" The sudden exclamation forced Temari away from her thoughts and made her jump in her seat a bit. Kiyoko's eyes were wide open and her face was flushed with red splotchy spots making her even more adorable if possible. "This is supposed to be an interview and here I am rambling on about my son! I'm so embarrassed."

Temari smiled warmly. "Don't worry about it. It's good to be proud of you son and I've learned all I need to know."

The Suna Kunoichi gathered up the papers on her desk and put them in order to summit to the council later.

"So does that mean my son will be able to join the academy?" Kiyoko was leaning on the edge of her seat, hope filling her bright eyes. Temari noticed for the first time how young the girl truly looked and wondered how old she had been when she had her son. No more than twenty she would have bet.

"Unfortunately, that's not my decision to make. You have to have a hearing with the council first, and then the Kazekage has to approve. I see no reason why they would refuse." Temari added when she saw a flicker of fear flash across the girl's face. "We can go now if you like."

She grabbed her things and stood to her feet. Kiyoko following suite. "Yes, that would be nice. The sooner the better. My son has a habit of wandering and getting into trouble, one of the reasons I want him in school; I'm hoping that it will teach him discipline. Right now he is playing with the nice Shinobi I told you about earlier so I'm not too worried. He seemed like he could handle a lot."

The blond smiled at the thought of Naruto playing with the small boy. It had been years since she had seen the leaf ninja but she wasn't surprised at all that Naruto had a knack with children; he was almost like one himself. As she and Kiyoko walked into the hallway she couldn't help but think that maybe the younger girl should have looked into the Konoha academy instead. Temari had a feeling that it would save a certain Hokage a lot of traveling in the nearby future.

**OooOooO**

The council had finished meeting for the day when Temari and Kiyoko had arrived and had ushered them right in for a private hearing. Just as Temari thought, Kiyoko had won the hearts of the council instantly. The red haired girl had seemed a bit shy at first in front of the roomful of diplomats, but when someone inquired about her son she had lighted up and gone off on a story much like the one she had told in Temari's office.

"He can be a bit of a handful sometimes, but he's a good boy. Always trying to be helpful anyway he can." Kiyoko was sitting across from the Kazekage, hands folded in her lap, her long amber colored hair draped neatly over her left shoulder.

The Kazekage, who had until this moment been reading Temari's notes, chose to finally contribute to the conversation. "It says here that the reason you came to Suna was because you believed the boy's father to be a Suna Shinobi. Is that right?"

"Yes, sir." Kiyoko sunk just the smallest amount in her seat. Temari was starting to notice that whenever the boy's father was in question the girl seemed a bit hesitant, nervous almost.

"Did he _say_ he was from Suna?" The brown haired Kazekage took a sip of his tea and Temari smiled at him before doing the same. She could tell by the way that he was only half paying attention that he was bored out of his mind, but if he didn't ask these questions he would hear about it from the council later.

Kiyoko shook her head before answering. "No. He never said he was a Shinobi at all, actually, but it was kind of obvious when Naruto was born."

Temari couldn't stop the coughing fit that erupted after choking on the hot liquid. She wasn't the one who got to inquired about the choice of naming though.

"Naruto!" shouted the Kazekage before recomposing himself. In a much calmer voice he added, "Why would you want to name your child that?"

Kiyoko wasn't stupid, she knew something was up and spoke slowly while Temari watched the wheels turn in the girl's head. "I...didn't...my husband...he was dead set on the name...said it meant a lot to him...after he died I wanted to honor his wish." Kiyoko captured Temari's gaze. "The Konoha nin I traveled here with thought it was funny, but he didn't say why."

"I bet he did." Temari said with sarcasm. Something was bothering her but she couldn't figure it out just yet. Now that she was thinking about it she realized that Naruto hadn't mentioned anything about the girl or her son. Why wouldn't he mention meeting a child who shared his name to her? It wasn't like Naruto was that popular of a name, meaning 'fishcake' and all.

"How was it obvious that your...husband" the Kazekage seemed to linger on that word. "was from Suna after he had died? Why not another village?"

Like Konoha, thought Temari. She was sure she wasn't the only one with that thought either. When this meeting was over she was going to have a long talk with the blond haired Hokage about giving a bit of a heads up next time. Her tongue was starting to sting from burning it on her tea earlier.

The younger girl had begun fiddling with her hands as she talked at a slightly fast paced speed. "Well at first I wasn't sure, but when he started controlling the sand—"

The sound of glass shattering on the floor was heard before Temari realized that she had dropped her teacup.

"_Sand!_" shouted the Kazekage no longer caring about his composure as he slammed his hands on the thick oak table. It had been imported from the leaf village as a treaty gift many years ago but that seemed so unimportant at the moment. "You said that Naruto—your son—can control _sand!_"

Kiyoko's head was barely above the edge of the table she had sunk so low in her seat. She looked worried and confused but she nodded an affirmation regardless. Temari wanted to feel sorry for the girl but was in shock herself. She knew that what Kiyoko had said should mean something to her but wasn't able to fit the pieces together yet.

Murmurs traveled around the table as the council members talked among themselves. Finally, the Kazekage sat back in his seat and ran a hand through his short brown hair. With his eyes close he asked a question that was barely above a whisper, but still heard clearly as the occupants of the room went silent. "Was your husband's name Gaara?"

Temari held her breath as everything around her turned into a silent movie. That had been it; that had been what was causing her inner panic. If the girl said yes to the Kazekage's question than that meant that Gaara was dead, because her husband was dead. The sand Kunoichi closed her eyes and prayed that the last bit of hope she had for her brother being alive somewhere out in the dessert wasn't about to be squashed.

"Gaara?" repeated the foreign girl. "You mean Sabaku no Gaara? The fifth Kazekage?" Temari opened her eyes and released a long breath as Kiyoko began to laugh out loud. "You honestly thought that I was married to the sand demon himself?"

Temari and a few others cringed a bit at the girl's choice of words. She was sure that Kiyoko meant no ill will—it was a well known nickname after all—but the the girl had no idea how hurtful that name had been for her youngest brother growing up. Not many did.

Still, it seemed that the room of council members had relaxed when Kiyoko laughed again. "Is that what had you acting so strangely? No, no, no, no, no. I've never met the fifth; I've never even been to Suna before now. I don't even know how you got that idea!"

The Kazekage smiled. "Of course. It was silly, and I know you won't understand, but there were so many signs that made me hope for a moment..." he trailed off before adding, "He was my brother you know."

Temari watched as the small girl reached across the table and covered her surviving brother's larger hand in two of her own. "For what it's worth, I know what it's like to lose a brother as well."

That was information that Temari had not known. To have lost a brother and a husband at such a young age—and this girl wasn't even from a hidden village—yet she didn't seem sad. The blond wondered what her secret was for dealing with the pain.

A knock came from the door and the familiar face of a blond haired, blue eyed, Konoha nin peeked his head in the room.

The Kazekage smiled and waved the younger Hokage in. "Naruto-sama! Please join us!"

Naruto stepped in the room hesitantly, slowly looking over the faces at the table. "I'm afraid I'm here for a personal matter so I won't be staying long, Kankuro-sama." His eyes stopped on the red head and he moved closer. Temari almost laughed as he attempted to whisper in her ear loud enough for the room to hear. Some things never changed and Naruto was one of them. "Umm...would you never speak to me again if I said I lost him..."

Kiyoko groaned. "No, it was bound to happen. Where did you last see him?"

"We were—" before Naruto could finish he was interrupted by one of the council woman screaming and pointed at an open window.

Temari turned to see what the threat was and felt as if she were having a flashback to her childhood. Wearing a white long sleeve tunic and beige pants was her youngest brother—alive and well. He was standing upside down (something he seemed to be rather fond of) in the window, his arms folded across his chest, and his shaggy crimson colored hair hanging down. His blue-green eyes found her and he grinned and waved. Sand rose and caressed her cheek. She didn't realize that her mouth had moved until she heard the whisper that escaped her mouth. "Gaara."

Vaguely Temari realized that Kiyoko was shouting another name. "Naruto! What did I tell you about climbing buildings? You get down from there this instant!"

Temari blinked and noticed two important things that she had missed. One, the Gaara in front of her couldn't be any older than five—her brother would be twenty-five by now. Two, this Gaara didn't have a kanji on his forehead. As she watched the boy jump from the window and run into Kiyoko's arms she brought her hand to her mouth and gasped out loud. "Oh, my God."

As the boy wriggled from his mother's grasp to the floor, Kankuro jumped over the table and pushed Kiyoko against the wall by her shoulders angrily shouting, "What was your husband's name!"

Kiyoko seemed horrified at the sudden outburst of the Kazekage and couldn't form any words that made sense. The miniature Gaara didn't seem to like the fact that his mother was being man-handled and tried to take justice into his own hands.

"Let go!" he screamed as his sand flew at the Kazekage causing small cuts on his arms and face. Kankuro dropped Kiyoko and backed off as her son placed himself in between the two. Temari would have thought the smaller boy heroic if she hadn't been in such shock.

Kankuro caught Temari's eye and spoke a firm order. "Lock her up. I don't know what's going on but I want her contained until I do. The boy too; use tranquilizers if you have to. I don't know what he's capable of yet."

"What! No!" Cried Kiyoko as an ANBU member shot the boy with a dart gun. The miniature Gaara rose his arm and sand in a last attempted to fight back before falling to the ground like a seasoned drunk.

Crying, Kiyoko spoke to Kankuro as she picked her son up from the ground. "I don't understand! What did I do?"

His face took on a hard look that he only used when entering battle. It was the look of a Kage and even if Gaara hadn't gone missing years ago, Temari knew that Kankuro would have eventually stood next to their brother as a fellow leader of

Suna.

"You're going to stand there! And lie to my face about never meeting Gaara! When the splitting image is right here?" Kankuro bent over and pulled the boy out of her arms. An ANBU grabbed her arms and pinned them to her sides before she could lash out at the brown haired Kazekage . Angrily he added, "If this is some kind of sick assassination attempt I swear I will make you suffer. I have many ways you know."

The girl step back as far as the guards would let her shaking her head back and forth. "You Suna people are crazy. I'm NOT lying when I say I've never met Sabaku no Gaara. And Naruto looks like my HUSBAND! Like Shukaku! Ask the Hokage! He's seen the picture!"

Temari turned her attention to the blond haired Hokage whom had been standing silently by the doorway since the chaos began. He was staring out the window with a nostalgic expression on his face that seemed odd for the former known hyperactive leaf ninja. It just proved to show how much someone could change in just a few years. Surely, it hadn't been that long since she had last seen him.

Naruto focused his gaze on Kankuro and nodded. "She's telling the truth, she knew her husband as Shukaku."

"Shukaku," Temari's eyes widened with alarm. "Does that mean?"

He smiled wistfully before continuing, "I think this conversation would be best over ramen."

**OooOooO**

**I love reviews :)**

**but no really-yes? no? what do you think?**

** fans computer crashed again. spent all of black friday looking for a new laptop. oh! and guess who didn't back up any of her files? this person-**

**_#Ieffinghatecomputers!_**


	2. Chapter 2 Gaara's Secret Life

Title: SecretLife

Chapter Two: Garra's Secret Life

Kankuro chose to pace the floor of the kitchen rather than eat lunch with everyone else; not that anyone sitting was really eating.

Baki, being present more for moral support than anything else, declined a bowl of Kiyoko's homemade Ramen and sat silently watching at one end of the small family table.

Naruto—the child, not the Konoha leader—was still out cold due to the medication running heavily through the small boy's veins. Temari had been hit with a dose of the sleeping agent once and knew that he would most likely be out until well after dinnertime. Kankuro had put the boy on a beige sofa in the living room upon their arrival, but when she spotted a glimpse of his vivid red hair and mistook him once again for her brother, Temari couldn't resist stepping into the room to get a better look at him.

It started with her pressing back the long strands of hair—long enough that he could tie it back if he chose to—from his face and ended with her counting the tiny scattered freckles covering his forehead, nose, and chubby baby cheeks. She was disturbed by the fact that she couldn't remember whether or not Gaara had freckles. He must have since Kiyoko didn't have any visible that she could see, and little Naruto had to have inherited them from somewhere; but she didn't want to believe that she had forgotten anything about Gaara.

Before she knew it she was pulling the boy close, his head on her shoulder, and carrying him with her to the kitchen. Kankuro had given her a funny look but said nothing as she sat and placed the child in her lap. Her own portion of Ramen remained untouched as she looked for more traces of Gaara in the boy as he slept peacefully unaware.

The Sand Kunoichi looked up as light sipping sounds, coming from the child's mother across the table, caught her attention. Kiyoko was attempting to drink the broth, but Temari knew that the young woman's mind was obviously elsewhere. The poor girl had been trying not to stare at a picture on the wall since everyone had entered into the kitchen, the same picture that Temari herself had been trying to ignore.

It was a picture of Gaara and a much younger looking Kiyoko on what Temari assumed was their wedding day. Kiyoko was beautiful; but Temari had thought that when she first met the young woman in her office. A small transparent veil covered the bride's face as long silky hair, braided with what seemed to be pearls, flowed down the girls back. Her dress was old fashioned looking and a bit too big at the shoulders—one strap had slid off when the photo had been taken—but Kiyoko was confidently wearing it as if it were perfect; and for the red headed girl it was.

Gaara was dressed in dark blue robes that emphasized his aqua blue eyes and had his arm wrapped tightly around Kiyoko's waist, her hands around his neck. They must have been dancing, Temari thought as she noticed that others in the faded background were in similar positions. The couple had their foreheads pressed together and were smiling to each other, lips almost touching, as if they were the only people in the room. There was no doubt as Temari noticed the small tell-tale kanji on his left temple that the man in the picture was her brother. She felt hurt as it hit her that she hadn't been at one of the most important days of her brother's life. Gaara had been a groomsman in her wedding to Shikamaru eight years ago.

The room was too quiet, Temari thought as she realized that even Naruto—the Hokage—hadn't touched his meal. That might have been the most disturbing thing about the whole situation. She never would have thought that the sounds of wet noodles being inhaled at dangerous amounts, and the insanely fast disappearance of numerous bowls of Ramen would have been a normal sight, but Temari couldn't help but find the sight that was before her wrong. The Hokage was staring at the bowl in front of him, playing with the noodles as if it were something uneatable and not his absolute favorite dish. She noticed for the first time that his normally bright and jubilant sky blue eyes held dark depressing shadows underneath them and hinted at a lack of sleep.

He knew, she thought as she watched the young leader put his chopsticks neatly next to his bowl and focus on the woman seated next to him. He must have already known how she and Kankuro were going to react when he stepped foot into Suna.

It was a clear sign that Temari wasn't going to like how this conversation was going to turn out.

"How did he…" The words were spilling out before Temari could stop them. Once she realized that the next word she was going to say was 'Die?' she came to her senses enough to ask something else. She wasn't ready to know the answer to that question. Not yet. "…propose to you?"

The sound of Kankuro's footsteps stopped and the hooded ninja took a seat at the square table next to his former teacher. The sixth Kazekage had shed his dignitary robes before they left the Kazekage tower and was now dressed in his normal puppet master regalia. Just in case things don't go well, he had told her when they had been alone before coming to the widow's small apartment on the rough side of the village.

In front of her Temari watched as a slow smirk grew on Kiyoko's face. The younger woman looked away from the picture for the first time in five minutes and found Temari. The Kunoichi detected the tiniest amount of playfulness in Kiyoko's apple-green eyes as she answered the question.

"You assume that Sh—" Kiyoko corrected her mistake when Kankuro coughed loudly. The two had argued briefly while in the Kazekage's office over what to call the former Kazekage—Kiyoko insisting to call him by the name she knew him as "Shukaku" and Kankuro insisting that he should be called by his rightful name. It wasn't until Naruto stepped in and explained to her that Shukaku was the demon that had been sealed inside of Gaara, and that her husband had hated that part of himself, that she agreed to make an effort to call him by the name that Suna knew him by. "_Gaara_ was the type to propose."

Temari smiled. She had to admit that she had a hard time imagining Gaara _ever_ proposing to a girl.

When they were children he had wanted to make friends, she knew, but had been too shy to even talk to anyone his age. After the incident with their uncle he no longer cared about anything but killing and she had believed that the blood lust would consume him—Gaara finding someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with hadn't even been a thought. Then, after they met Naruto for the first time, he suddenly changed back into the boy she had read bedtime stories to when their father wasn't around.

She remembered her and Kankuro not knowing what to make of the sudden kindness coming from their normally twisted younger brother. They loved him—they had always loved him—but the change was so drastic it was hard for the two to forget what he had been; it had seemed more likely that it was a practical joke. But then suddenly Gaara was the Kazekage of Suna and loved by everyone in the village.

Girls started to throw themselves at her brother and Temari took the place of protecting him from the power-hungry gold-diggers. They only wanted Gaara for his Kazekage status and not the person he really was. Not that he had ever shown any interest in any of them, but even then Temari couldn't see her brother proposing; she had always predicted the council forcing him into an arranged marriage. It always amused her that the council thought they could _force_ Gaara to do anything. Even after he changed he still did whatever he wanted; he just had a different perspective for living than he did before.

"So you proposed first?" Kankuro inquired further while playing with a cup of hot tea.

Kiyoko nodded. Her smile beamed as she talked about the man she married in a rush. "Yes. I knew he wanted to—I had found the ring months ago—but he was always very shy about things like that—I'm sure you know that though—so I told him one day that if he didn't hurry up and give me the ring I was going to marry one of the men my father kept trying to set me up with. He didn't like that very much." She was nervous and talking fast and Temari tried to keep up with what the red head was saying through her dialect. "I was also the one to kiss him first though I wasn't as sure of his response that time. I think I caught him off guard."

Something suddenly didn't seem right with Kiyoko's story. Temari thought for a moment about what she had just heard before questioning. "You found the engagement ring months before you propose? How is that possible when you only knew him for a short time?"

She had done the math in her head before they had left the Kazekage office earlier. Gaara had left Suna about six years ago; Kiyoko had said their son was nearly five. Add nine months for pregnancy and the two couldn't have known each other for more than a couple of months before they were married. Temari had figured the two were married before Kiyoko had become pregnant since in the photo the young woman hadn't been sporting any bulges around her belly.

Kiyoko looked confused so Temari explained what she had figured on her own but it only seemed to add to the woman's confusion.

"I married Gaara six and a half years ago." The widow finally said with a frown when Temari finished. "We were only engaged for a month but I had known him for almost a year before that. My father always gave him a hard time because he thought Gaara was too old for me. I was only sixteen when we were married."

Temari quickly did the math in her head. Roughly seven and a half years ago Gaara would have barely been eighteen—he wouldn't even have had Shukaku resealed yet. What was more important was that he had married Kiyoko _before_ he had left Suna.

Baki had apparently picked up on that as well. "You're claiming that you and Gaara were married while he was _still_ Kazekage?"

"If he was Kazekage six and a half years ago, then yes." Kiyoko answered calmly but in her eyes there was a trace of fear. "I never knew him as Sabaku no Gaara—never dreamed that he was the Kazekage. I only ever knew him as Shukaku." She turned to face the blond Hokage before adding, "Which is why I don't understand why—"

It was small and unnoticed by the other two but Temari saw Naruto shake his head quickly stopping Kiyoko from finishing what she was going to say. Kankuro seemed to understand and finished for her. "You don't understand why he would choose to use a name that represented something he hated about himself."

"Exactly."

Temari decided not to press the issue and listened to her brother's insight as to what Gaara might have been thinking. "Do you remember Temari—before Yashumaru—when Gaara had broken the necklace mom had given you?"

A light bulb turned on above Temari's head as she realized where Kankuro was going with this. "He said Shukaku did it."

"And when he got angry?"

"Shukaku."

"And when he hurt or killed someone?"

"Shukaku!" exclaimed Temari again.

The purple painted Kazekage removed his hood so he could rub his brown hair as he explained to the others sitting in the room. "When Gaara was younger he used to blame anything he did that he felt was wrong on the demon. Even things that we knew had nothing to do with the demon would sometimes be blamed on Shukaku. He thought that being with you was wrong—"

Temari wasn't the only one to jump when the cold angry voice interrupted the Kazekage. She hadn't seen so much rage come from the Kyuubi container since Sakura had almost died a year ago. "Being with Kiyoko was _not_ something _wrong!_"

For a second the two Kage's stared at each other in a silent match, each one with their own glare. Kankuro broke off first, spun his cup in a circle, and then responded to Naruto's outburst. "I never meant for it to sound the way it did." The twenty-eight year old leader sighed before pulling back his hair again and sitting back in the chair. "_Being_ with Kiyoko wasn't wrong. What was wrong was hiding the fact that he was seeing someone from the council and sneaking away to do it. As Kazekage he had a responsibility to the village to protect it from harm—something he wouldn't have been able to do from your village—and he LIED to us! He lied to Kiyoko! He lied to the council! He lied to ME!"

Kankuro's voice had steadily risen louder and louder and he had stood as he spoke. When he finished his rant he took a deep breath and sat back down and rested his head in his hands; rubbing his temples with his fingertips. Kiyoko reached out one of her tiny manicured hands and touched her brother's arm. "I know it's hard to understand why your brother did what he did—I don't even understand it myself—but everyone has secrets. Gaara," she still hesitated on calling him that. "just had a bigger one than most."

"You're really taking this well." Kankuro said as she pulled away. "Doesn't to hurt to know that there was a whole side to your husband that he didn't tell you about?"

She began to stare quietly at the photo of her and Gaara on the wall again and Temari watched as a tear rolled slowly down her cheek. Naruto turned to look at the photo and when he turned back the two shared a look before Kiyoko turned her attention back to Kankuro and answered his question. "Yes, it does. More than you know."

She stood from the table, pushed the chair back in, and then walked over to Temari's side holding her hands out for her son. "If you don't mind I'd like to put him in his room."

Temari wasn't ready to give up holding the boy but Kiyoko looked like she was ready to break down at any moment and handed him over. The Sand woman was betting that her brother's widow was really just looking for an excuse to leave the room so she could recompose herself and could care less about tucking her son in bed.

As she suspected Kiyoko returned moments later with a freshly washed face and newly planted smiled.

She cleaned up the table of uneaten Ramen and topped off everyone's tea before sitting back down next to the Hokage leader and folding her hands in her lap. This time Temari knew she wasn't imagining things when Naruto put his hand over hers and brought it to his lips. The look that Kiyoko gave him was a mixture of shock and pure love. Temari thought the two were moving rather fast and was surprised at Naruto's smooth gesture, but had predicted that sparks would fly between the two. She found that a part of her was pleased to know that the woman Gaara had loved—no matter how messed up the situation was—would be taken care of by someone he trusted.

"I think you need to start at the beginning." Baki said interrupting the blossoming lovebirds' moment. "When did you first meet Gaara?"

Kiyoko broke eye contact with the Hokage and laughed a bit. "In the middle of the desert, believe it or not." She laughed again before continuing with her story. "I think I told you that I was fifteen when I met your brother."

Temari nodded remembering an earlier conversation.

"Well, I had been trying to run away."

"Trying?" asked Kankuro.

"Yes. My father had been talking about marrying me off to one of his friend's sons and I wanted nothing to do with it so I left." Kiyoko smiled and began to braid the ends of her hair. "I wasn't aware of the amount of water you needed to travel with in the desert and ran out in the second day because I was too stubborn to go back. Shu-Gaara spotted me as I collapsed from dehydration.

"He let me travel with him a few days before he told me that I had to go back home. I had told him about my father and he said that running away from my problems would do more harm than good. I didn't want to go back but he said he would drag me by force if he had to. I made him promise to visit and make sure my father never married me off to the highest bidder. I never expected him to agree, but he did, so I let him take me home."

Kiyoko stopped and after several minutes Kankuro asked if that was the end of the story. She shook her head. "No, I was just wondering…I didn't think much of it when it was happening but I remember now when I introduced Gaara as Shukaku that my father had responded oddly. I thought it was just because he was a boy and my father was a bit protective of my sisters and me, but Papa was smart and dealt with Shinobi on occasion. I think he might have known who Gaara was, or at least suspected.

"I never questioned that he might be someone else. I never expected him to keep his word either, but my father sat me down and told me that I could marry whomever I wanted as long as I was happy. He only brought over people because he knew they would take care of me and he had hoped that I would like one of them. He never planned on forcing me into an arranged marriage.

"A few weeks later the other half of Gaara's promise was completed when one of my older brothers Kyo dragged me out of bed saying I had a visitor. I thought it was another one of papa's setups so when I saw it was him I was so happy I jumped in his arms and kissed his cheek."

Temari tried to imagine what Gaara's reaction to that might have been. As far as she knew Gaara had never kissed anyone—but then again she hadn't known that he had been married with a son either.

"He spent a week in our village, helping out papa and my brothers with the fishing boats when I had to help my mother and sisters with the restaurant. He and Kyo became really good friends in that time I was told. They would come and visit me while I was working and give me a hard time while I waited on them. They pissed me off once and I dumped water over their heads but they both just laughed and sandwiched me between them getting me wet as well.

"When I wasn't working I showed Gaara around the village or explored one of the caves by the water's edge with him. Most of the time we just talked about what we liked or whatever came to mind. I found out that it was his eighteenth birthday that week and my family insisted on throwing him a small party even though he said he didn't need one. I think his face was as red as his hair when Kyo joked about giving him his girlfriend for the night." She laughed before adding, "He declined. When he went home he told me he would visit again soon and he kept his word."

"How often did he visit?" Kankuro asked when Kiyoko took a break from speaking to sip on her cooling tea.

She put the cup back down and refolded her hands in her lap. "At least once a month, and he usually stayed for a few days."

Baki looked unsettled. "How did Gaara manage to disappear regularly for _days_ and no one notice?"

No one seemed to have an answer for this so Kiyoko continued her story.

"It was my sixteenth birthday when I realized that Gaara might have feelings for me. He gave me this." Kiyoko touched the gold chain around her neck and pulled it up out of her shirt. The piece was made of clear glass and encased a single white rose petal. "It seemed like such an elaborate gift to give to someone you had only known a few months that you didn't see that often. I knew that he was a good friend but he always treated me the same as he did Kyo so I never thought that I might mean more to him.

"I decided that I needed to know for sure before he left and walked with him to the edge of the forest that lined the coast as he started home. I would usually give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek but this time I turned my head to steal a real kiss. I thought he was mad at me when he didn't react and I started to pull away, but he stopped me and kissed me again. He admitted then that he cared for me but that he wasn't planning on coming back after this visit." Kiyoko rubbed the stone between her thumb and forefinger before tucking it back into her shirt. "He said that it wasn't safe for him to keep visiting me and that things were happening back home that could make it dangerous for him to see me. He broke up with me before we were even dating!" Kiyoko laughed dryly as everyone else listened intently. "I remember getting mad and telling him that if he really did leave and not come back he would be breaking his promise. I told him that I would follow him but he ignored me.

"After three months and no word I had given up on ever seeing him again. I started seeing a friend of my brother who I knew was interested in me but I still thought about Gaara. Then, almost four months after he left claiming that he would never return he showed up at the restaurant.

"I knew right off the bat that something was off about him, different. He looked exhausted and tense but I thought it was guilt and refused to talk or visit him. Papa and Kyo still liked him even though I told them what happened and decided that they would spend time with him so I didn't have to. They also wanted to know why he wasn't acting like himself. Later, when he was leaving again, Papa made me see him off and walk up the coast with him. I was still angry and refused to speak to him the entire time, but I listened when he told me that he was trying to protect me. When he said that he would be back I couldn't help but look for him every day as I waited.

"The next time he visited he kidnapped me from my bedroom while I was sleeping. He took me to one of the caves that we had previously explored and kissed me. He said that he was sorry he had left but that he had to. He then told me some strange things that night—he said that he was forgetting who he was and that he would have flashes of events that he couldn't remember whether they were memories or nightmares. He told me that he had thought I might be a dream and that he had come back to be sure I wasn't. I asked him if he was going to leave again now that he knew that I was real and he promised me that he would be back every chance he could. That was when he started visiting every other week.

"Not long after, I found this ring in his coat pocket." Kiyoko smiled as she twisted the ring around her finger and Temari noticed that it had been their mother's engagement ring. "I had borrowed it to keep warm one night when my siblings had decided to build a bonfire on the beach. He must have forgotten it was in there when he put it over my shoulders."

Kiyoko frowned and stirred her tea. "Actually that was when he started to forget a lot. He started to keep a journal to remember important events but it wasn't the same. He would leave to come back to Suna, I suppose, but when he would come back to visit me it was like I had to remind him who everyone else was again.

"That was why I asked him to marry me. I wasn't sure if he was hesitating or if he just kept forgetting but either way I wanted him with me for as long as I could. I was afraid that he would forget me all together. He told me I was crazy for wanting to marry him but said that he couldn't imagine being with anyone else. My father approved even though he thought we were young and Gaara bought a house for me to live in until I could travel back with him."

"He planned on bringing you to Suna?" Baki asked barely containing his shock.

Kiyoko nodded. "I didn't know for sure it was Suna, but the plan had been for me to go home with him, at least at first. When I became pregnant he didn't want me traveling and I wound up staying instead."

"Wait," Temari added up Naruto's age again. "I thought you said Naruto wasn't five yet?"

"Naruto was the second pregnancy; I became ill and the first one miscarried. That was why he moved to Kanagakure. We were still going to move after I gave birth but the longer he stayed with me the more he forgot about his life here; at least that was what he told me." She shook her head back and forth and the braid that she had been working on fell back into perfectly straight hair. "I feel like an idiot sitting here telling you all this. I feel like I should have known, should have been suspicious of the fact that he left and came sporadically; but I didn't. I knew there were things that he didn't tell me but I never thought they were of any great importance."

"How did he die?" Temari knew that the question would be coming soon but still felt unprepared as her brother asked.

The young widow aimlessly stirred her tea once more before going into the final story about her husband. This time when she spoke her voice was only a little above a whisper as if the quieter she spoke the less likely it would be true. "It was about eight weeks from my due date when he woke me up in the middle of the night with a fever. He said it was nothing, but by the end of the week he was delirious and bed ridden. The doctor tried everything he could but a few days later Gaara closed his eyes for good. It seemed so fast; one day my husband was with me planning the birth of our son, the next he was gone—replaced with an empty shell. Kyo buried Gaara in the same cave he had apologized and kissed me in. I would have sent you news but he never told me your names so I didn't know how to contact you."

Temari closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. So this was the mystery of Gaara's disappearance? A secret life and a sad ending; she almost wished that she hadn't known, yet a part of her still couldn't believe it.

A part of her wanted to slap, shake, and scream at the girl in front of her. She wanted to make the girl admit that she was lying; that everything she had just told them was a big lie. Gaara couldn't have kept all this from them. He couldn't have had a family without her and Kankuro knowing. He couldn't have died. Yet, she thought of the boy sleeping upstairs with the same sea foam eyes as her brother and she knew that she couldn't deny the girl's claim.

Gaara really, truly had a second life.

It still did nothing to keep back the pain of his death.

Temari stood abruptly from the table. "I can't listen to any more of this. I need to go."


End file.
